The Chinese military will stop all of its commercial activities before the end of the year, under a new guideline unveiled on Monday.The guideline, released by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, State Council and Central Military Commission, said that stopping all of the military's commercial activities is a strategically important decision made by the Party, the Central Military Commission and Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and is a significant part of the ongoing reform of national defense and the military.It said the work has entered a crucial stage that requires determination, planning and cooperation between the military, local governments and Party committees.Units of the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force must ensure that their commercial activities are halted before year's end and their assets be maintained at their current value during the process, the document said.Contracts between the military and civilian entities that will not conclude by year's end should be terminated by that time through negotiation or legal procedures, it said, adding that compensation will be given for economic losses.Under the guideline, commercial activities with sophisticated situations should be dealt with in a flexible manner such as entrusting civilian entities to manage them.It urged government and military departments to make policies to regulate nonmilitary programs assigned by the central government in the future.The document said all properties, land and reception facilities owned by the military and used for commercial purposes will be administered and allocated by the Central Military Commission.The Chinese military started running its own businesses in the mid-1980s to offset a defense budget decrease.In 1992, the Central Military Commission approved commercial activities by the PLA and the Armed Police Force. In February 2016, the Central Military Commission ordered the PLA and Armed Police Force to halt commercial activities within three years.Many corruption cases involving senior officers were closely connected to the military's commercial activities, and the military's involvement in commercial sectors aroused public concerns, said Senior Colonel Gong Fangbin, a political education researcher at PLA National Defense University. wristbands with tabs24hr wristband
BEIJING -- China has lodged stern representations with the United States over a Taiwan-related bill, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said over the weekend.It was reported that US President Donald Trump on Friday signed the bill that encourages visits between the United States and China's Taiwan at all levels.We firmly oppose the US side signing the Taiwan Travel Act, spokesperson Lu Kang said.As has been pointed out many times by China, the relevant clauses of the act, though not legally binding, severely violate the one-China principle and the three joint communiques between China and the United States, Lu said.The Taiwan Travel Act sends out very wrong signals to pro-independence separatist forces in Taiwan, Lu said, noting that China was strongly opposed to this.We urge the US side to correct its mistake, stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way, and handle Taiwan-related issues properly and cautiously so as to avoid causing severe damage to China-US relations and cross-Strait peace and stability, Lu said.Taiwan is a part of China and issues regarding Taiwan are completely internal affairs of China, said Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense.Wu stressed that the bill had interfered in the internal affairs of China and injured the environment for the development of relations between the two countries' militaries.China demands that the US keep its promises, rectify its wrongs, refrain from implementing relevant clauses of the bill and stop seeking any official contacts, military ties or arms sales with Taiwan, so as to avoid doing serious harm to the China-US relationship, the ties between the two countries' militaries and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Wu said.
